The Iowa plain dealer. [volume] (New Oregon, Howard County, Iowa) 1867-1895, 1887-07-14
NAN: THE GREAT MYSTERY OF LIFE.
Romarks Of w. Il. Mead. Esq. 1T the Fourth
Annual Examination and Commencement
Exercises Of the School Of the Assump-
tiOn. Cresco. Iowa. Thursday. June 3Oth.
1887

tion. Cresco. Iowa. Thursday. June 3Ofh.
1887.
FRIENDS, PARENTS, TEACHERS AND STUDENTS:
The remarkable standing Of the stu
dents in department and scholarship at
test the noble work of this school. To
encourage all interested in the noble
work and that its future may be continu-
ed with unabating zeal, permit me to
address you short time on the great
mystery of life-the sum and central
figure Of all its mysteries--Man
"The Joyous happy days. are gone and
the peaceful scenes of life are past. and
the world, with allits activities and ankle
ties are just before rs. as We step over
the threshold OF the school room and bid
adieu to its associations. Its avenues
all invite us to enter upon their open
pathways. Its pursuits soon engage
our thoughts and excite our desires.
We are gradually, perhaps, but surely
forced into its struggles. The desire
for fame, or wealth, or popular
applause. or perchance, IN in
disposition to be inactive. will urge
you onward, and call upon all the
forces which your education has accu-
mulated, to render their appointed ser
vice. Then your battle of life is inn
minent, the battle field is just before
you. From whatever standpoint one
may choose, other combatants can be
seen engaged. The dust and smoke Of
their struggle rises to our view. Pre-
pared or unprepared, We grid ourselves
for the conflict.
II we have not done SO already, we
have now surely reached the epoch in
life when it becomes us. as wise man
to pause in mid career and examine with
calmness and courage, and unsparing
fieldity, the circumstances and conditions
of our being. and the forces and capac-
tiles with which we may confront them.
And what is life? Who can penetrate
its wonders, and tell us Uhat /. Is aUe
call TO lice, and what to die? What is
the vital spark? What the relation of
mind to matter? What the tie which
binds them? And the soul, the con-
sciousness. the intellect. what are these?
Who may lift the veil which hides the
unseen world, and show us whence they
came. and whittier they shall go? Who
may look so far backward, or forward.
as to trace their origin, or see their
enda Are they separate and independ-
ent. or. do they altogether constitute
one being? Are they each, or all com.
bined, a separate life. or are they parts o.
the DiviID intelligence lent, as it were, fol
brief space to man, and then returning
to be incorporated withits Infinite Being
to which they then add nothing. a
from it they had taken nothing?
i Is their connection with the body the
whole Of their progressive life? Or, a.
becomes higher nature, is that con
ncction but period Of their existence
phase of their development "a link ii
beings endless chain? And wher
death comes, what are their condition.
then? And are these conditions modi
fled throughout beyond the ages o.
their being there?
i These awful mysteries let us seek no.
to penetrate. Their questions will b.
answered. The continual yearning o.
the immortal soul is to know its eterna
destinies. 1t cannot. with blind ODE
dience, or unquestioning faith, &C
J cep. the teachings Of others
Each will seek the answer
for himself, at his own time, and in hi
own way.
Let hin, approach the investigation
when the intellect is clearest, and tn,
motives are purest. and the aspiration
are loftiest. and reyerently seek to learl
from all that is within. and from al
that is without, from all that God ha
revealed. and from all that He ha
made, from all that is in man. an,
. from all that is in nature, what he is
and whittier he is tending.
Consider what We see of life. Dali,
familiarity with others and ourselye
prevents the sense Of wonder. And ye
in every aspect of his being, physical
, mental, or moral,-in every stage o
! his existence, from unconscious life be
: fore his birth, to conscious dealt
| in every relation. alone, il
his family, in society, in govern
ment-in every pursuit of wealth
8 of fame, Of pleasure, of power, Q
1 lnoulo1lno tho ,nvStocv IF man IN
pears. He is born into the world til
tiny helpless thing, which excites tn
gentlest sympathy, SO small and frai
that he scarcely seems to live; yet hi
body is as perfect in all its parts As tha
( of the gymnast; his mind is the same a
! that which marks the stars in thei
eternal courses; his passions are thoS
which lead to fraud or force, or see
the ways of peace and holiness.
The babe, the boy, the vigorou
youth; the straight and sinewy and el
during man; the bended frame, til
whitened hair, the feeble step. til
fading life, the easy death, the rigi
form, the dissolution of the body into il
impalpable eelements--whoc can read TIL
mystery of physical development. An
( yet we know it was all growth-nt
creation--from the instant Of its birtl
And counterpart to this is the ment;
life. The smile responsive to the loyin
look of the mother, the dawning men
DRY, the painful speech, the capacity
read, the small additions, the mastery
The calculus, the expanded intelligence
uh;0h raadS tho 1auS nf pr0vif afian M
foretells the movements OF the ne
: born stars as they sweep through the
intricate but never clashing course
1.-THE music Of the spheres which apple
the forces Of nature to the uses Of maj
and spans the earth with the steam ca
plows the seas with the steamship, n
girdles both earth and sea with Il
electric telegraph, which governs na
ions, and sits enthroned on earth
- ,,nuynr. and than Nha fai1;,